While I was making my plans to go to Copa Jerez I thought – hey! – why not do another quick overnight getaway to El Puerto de Santa María too? I was last there briefly a year ago for an afternoon sherry event, and before that I had spent a November morning visiting bodegas with Julie & Steve – that was in 2014 (!). But I hadn’t spent more than a few hours in town since an overnight stay in November 2013, and there were a couple of new restaurants I wanted to check out, so I booked a room at quirky and charming Casa de Huéspedes, where I had stayed before. Then it turned out that Tomoko wanted to join us, so another room was booked, and we arrived early evening, after having spent the day at Copa Jerez.

Casa de Huespedes was just as charming as I remembered, and so were our lovely hosts Carlos and Myriam. After settling in and having a bit of rest we went out for dinner at La Bodeguilla del Bar Jamón, a place I’d been dreaming about since my first visit there in 2013 (and which had also been the venue for the sherry event last summer). We sat outside on the terrace with a welcome breeze and ate very well. Afterwards we popped over to Bespoke to pick up my It’s Sherry Time pin and also have a couple of sherry cocktails. By the time we got back to Casa Huéspedes, Tomoko and I had clocked over 16,000 fitbit steps and were more than ready for our (comfy) beds.

Next morning, after a light brekkie at Casa Huéspedes, we made plans for the day. Unfortunately it was already too late to make it for the bodega tour at Gutiérrez Colosía, and the owner of Bodegas Grant was out of town, so we decided to just go out and see what happened. We had booked El Faro for lunch, but there were still a couple of hours until then, so we walked over to the market, and then to Bodegas Obregon, finally stopping at Ángel León’s new Taberna del Chef del Mar, housed in the site of his original michelin star Poniente (which is now located in larger digs across town). We’d all heard mixed things about the Taberna but decided to find out for ourselves, with a couple of pre-lunch dishes. Verdict? Very tasty, excellent execution, great service… but?… just not worth the prices. We’ve had better ceviche in Sevilla for half the price (that small bowl was 15€) and 2€ per croqueta? Seriously? It’s a shame because the place is very pleasant and the rest of the menu looked good too.

La Taberna del Chef del Mar: • cuttlefish croquetas • ceviche

Tomoko getting a shot of THAT tempura urta.

Then we got a taxi over to El Faro for our “main course”. We were happy to discover that there is now a tapas menu other than at the bar – one of the formerly unused patios has been transformed into a bright and cheerful tapas area. All I knew was that I wanted to try THAT tempura fish we’d seen prepared during the Tempura vs Fritura competition the day before at Copa Jerez. We started off ordering a few dishes to share, but it turned out that the tempura fish version offered on the tapas menu didn’t include the wonderful “whole fish” presentation you see here. But then it turned out that we could also order restaurant menu items in the tapas area! So we quickly revised our order to include only the Almadraba tuna tartare and then THAT fish. In this case it was urta and it was perfect. Weirdly served with salmorejo as a “dipping sauce”… we chose to drink the soup and just have the tempura urta on its own. The tuna tartare looked like rubies and was served with wasabi, ginger and horseradish. Heaven.

El Faro: • tuna almadraba tartare • tempura urta with salmorejo

Peter, Fernando and Tomoko, in the El Faro bodega

By then we were stuffed! But we didn’t want to leave without thanking chef Fernando Córdoba, and when he found out that Tomoko and I are sherry educators he took us to see his bodega. A very generous and caring person – we felt honoured that he spent so much time with us.

There was a bit of a Death March back to the centre of town after that, in the blazing late afternoon HEAT, but we managed to take a look inside Toro Tapas, the new bar inside Bodegas Osborne, before collecting our bags at the Casa Huéspedes and heading to the train station.

Foolishly or otherwise, we decided to stop for a last quick COLD ONE at Bar Apolo on the way, thinking we had plenty of time. And we may have had it not been 40º and we hadn’t had luggage… we arrived at the station with about two minutes to spare and then found out the escalators were out of service (!!). One final sprint up the stairs got us onto the train and literally 30 seconds later it pulled out of the station. Phew!

One of the hazards of being a high profile Queen of Tapas and sherry educator is that just when you thought you might get an actual day off you get invited to go out and eat and drink fine food and wines. 😉 This week’s guilty parties were winemakers Finca Allende, and hosts and food pairing providers for their cata (tasting), Abades Triana restaurant.

The setting, the modern glass palace just acros the river in Triana, was actually rather pleasant, light and spacious, with a view of the Torre del Oro and the boats on the river.

The cata itself was conducted by Miguel Ángel de Gregorio of Finca Allende. They are a fairly small bodega from Briones in the Rioja Alta, and it was interesting to learn something more about this wine region. Miguel Ángel, who is clearly passionate about his wines, first arrived in Briones in 1986, and considered the climate, and especially the land, as ideal for the kind of terroire driven wines that he wanted to make.

We tried six different wines, two white and four red, each made with grapes from specific parcels of land, and which paired very nicely with a menu that progressed from a soup starter (salmorejo), through a tartar of urta (fish), a pluma Iberica, and beef to a chocolate mousse dessert. Exquisite.

Thanks to Finca Allende and Restaurant Abades Triana for an enjoyable, very interesting, and tasty afternoon. More on the wines, etc coming up on the Azahar Sevilla blog.

I kind of hit the ground running after getting back from my London Getaway. I had already planned to get together with Jane & John and Sue & Monty, but before those meet ups took place I had the pleasure of being introduced (via email by Annie Manson) to Fran & Kaz Kuzui. Fran & Kaz were travelling around Andalucía, doing some research on Japanese influence on southern Spanish cuisine, and would also be spending a couple of days in Sevilla, so we arranged to meet the evening after I got home from London. They had also tried to meet up with my friend Tomoko in Jerez, but there had been an email glitch, and so I invited Tomoko to come and stay over so we could all go out together.

It was a fabulous evening. Fran is a native New Yorker who now lives in Tokyo with her husband Kaz. Aside from being film producers and art lovers, they are both also food & wine lovers, and as usual Sevilla worked its magic on them. By the end of the evening we had all become fast friends and F & K were already talking about planning a return visit to Andalucía. Come back soon! xx

I have “known” travel and food writer Sue Style on Twitter for a few years now, and we’ve even collaborated on a couple of articles about Sevilla and Andalucía. So I was thrilled to find out we were finally going to have a chance to meet in person.

Sue and her husband Monty were travelling with friends in Jerez and said they would have a free day in Sevilla before their flight left on the evening of lunes santo (Holy Monday) at the start of Semana Santa. This turned out to be a bit trickier than I had considered, with traffic issues and whatnot, but in the end we managed to get together for a lovely afternoon tapeo.

After a plate of perfectly sliced jamón Ibérico and some fabulous Goya manzanilla pasada at Las Teresas we headed over to La Azotea Santa Cruz for our “main course”. One of our favourite dishes was the courgette and anchovy salad with frozen grated goat cheese. Sue loved it so much she was inspired to create her own version of it when she got home to Alsace.

As we have a mutual friend in San Sebastián – the lovely Gabriella Ranelli of Tenedor Tours (aka Shawn of the North 😉 ) – I’m thinking it would be fun to organize a San Sebastián meetup that would half-way for Sue and me.

A few weeks ago Jane & John got in touch with me, saying they were coming to Sevilla and that our mutual friend Simon Majumdar had recommended that they look me up. Well, it turned out that they were arriving in Sevilla the very day I was leaving for London, but happily they were going to still be here when I got back. Jane had already done some Serious Research on my Sevilla Tapas website, and I also gave them some extra tips to keep them going. And then we finally met up!

Peter also joined us on what ended up being one of our favourite things – an afternoon Tapeo Extremo with new friends – which of course properly began in Bar Las Teresas with a plate of jamón and some chilled manzanilla. A few bars and many glasses of wine later we walked J & J back to their apartment (turns out they were also neighbours!) with full bellies and lots of nice memories.

I think Jane put it best when she wrote on her Facebook page…

Love it when we travel and come home with the best souvenir of all: a new friend!

Yep, she’s even got me “slumming” on FB now 😉 since she refuses to use any other social media. Honestly, the things I do for my friends…

Good times! And although J & J say they seldom return to the same place, they are considering another Andalusian adventure. Fingers crossed.

Our final full day in London started and finished at Old Spitalfields Market. We had plans to meet Julie & Steve for lunch at Quality Chop House, but as it was such a lovely day we wanted to get out early and get a walk in before meeting them. Which actually turned into quite a long walk through not very picturesque streets, but we enjoyed the market and I also got to see the Smithfield meat market, which is housed in a surprisingly beautiful building. Along the way I got a message from Julie saying that they were on the train and, if they got in early, they were going to stop for a “quick one” at The Eagle (London’s first gastrobar), across the street from Quality Chop. As it turned out we all arrived there about the same time, and half an hour early for our lunch reservastion, so The Eagle it was.

Then lunch at Quality Chop. I was introduced to QC by the FoodieHub people, when I was invited to the FH Awards back in 2015, and this was my third visit. It is one of my favourite places to eat in London – always amazing food and terrific service. You may even recall that when Julie & Steve came to Sevilla last Christmas I made – or attempted to make – chef Sean Searley’s iconic confit potatoes. And Sean even gave me some advice on Twitter, which I thought was very sweet of him.

Anyhow, this was a chance for Julie & Steve to try the real deal potatoes, along with THAT hereford mince and various other wonderful QC dishes. It was an outstanding lunch and by far the best meal of the trip (you can see details below). Many thanks to Sean and the QC team.

After lunch there was another treat in store for us as Julie & Steve decided we should have a penúltima at a hidden gem of a pub called Ye Olde Mitre. En route Julie told us stories of her time working in the area, and we passed the shop where Steven bought her engagement ring. Although they no longer live in the city, they spent many happy years there and are full of insider knowledge. We were joined at Ye Olde Mitre by my pal @CityJohn. Whenever people dis social media (and in particular Twitter) all I can say is that many of the people I hold dear in my life are people I met on Twitter. And John is one of the most special ones.

Finally it was time to say goodbye, and Peter and I decided to walk over to the Sky Garden bar atop the hideous “walkie talkie” building, to try and catch a glimpse of MY SHARD at sunset. It had suddenly occureed to me that I hardly had any photos of the Shard from this visit. And so over we walked, and up we went, only to find that we were too late to walk outside on the viewing platforms (which close at 6 pm). So close and yet so far! And so I had to make do with taking a shot of my beloved Shard from inside. I’ll know better next time.

By this time a few hours had past since lunch and we were thinking that a snack before going home would probably be a good idea, and so that’s how we ended up back at Old Spitalfields Market. But not before passing through Leadenhall Market, which kind of popped up out of nowhere. So by the time we got to Taberna do Mercado (almost 20,000 fitbit steps since leaving home in the morning) we were ready for a drink and a snack. We shared chef Nuno Mendez’s fabulous tempura green beans, and a couple of the Portuguese butties. And then it was time to find an Uber back to the apartment and start packing for home.

So this was it! The day I’d been looking forward to and dreading in equal measure. Also it was the main reason for being in London for this particular London Getaway, to be one of the judges at the first World Sherry Awards. I say “dreading” because I had never judged anything at this level before, and wasn’t sure what would be expected. Happily my friend Owen @sherrymonster44 (another sherry educator and co-owner of four fabulous tapas bars in southern Wales) had also been invited as a judge, so I knew there would be at least one friendly face. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. The people running the event were super friendly and I immediately felt right at home. Or as “at home” as possible at the elegant Caledonian Club, where the tasting was being held. You will have to wait until May to find out which wine was chosen as the winner, and I hope to be invited back again next year.

After the tasting Owen had to get back to Wales and I met up again with Peter, who had spent the afternoon visiting a couple of museums. As we were near Harrod’s – and as I had never been to Harrod’s – we went to Harrod’s! In fact, we decided to do a three-posh-store circuit and after Harrod’s we also stopped off at Harvey Nichols and Fortnum & Mason. I think a few years ago I would have found these places more interesting, especially the food courts. Anyhow, we stopped for a drink in the upstairs lounge at Harvey Nicks, as we still had a couple of hours to go before meeting up with John again. Then we found out John was going to be delayed, so we went off in search of a pre-pub snack in nearby Soho.

My first choice, Boca di Lupo, was already packed at 6.30 pm and we were told to come back in an hour or so to see if there was any space then. Uh… no. Then I remembered Zelman’s. This turned out to be an excellent choice. We were immediately shown to a comfy spot in front of the glass-walled “open” kitchen and our server couldn’t have been nicer. So different from the “fake-friendly” treatment elsewhere the previous day. Our snack was a massive smoked beef short rib, which we shared with a side of triple-fried chips. We honestly wished we were hungrier so we could try more dishes – Zelman is already at the top of the list for my next London visit.

By the time we met up with John I was pretty tired, so we just had a couple of drinks and a nice chat before I called an Uber to take us home.

Owen finds a secret passage behind fake bookshelf door at the Caledonian Club

This was the only day I had actually planned both lunch and dinner meet-ups with friends. And I knew I’d be fine lunching light with Thane @thaneprince since we’ve done this before, and as it turned out she also had a dinner date that same evening. Last summer Thane and I thought we’d made a mistake by choosing newly-opened Calcutta Street over our original choice, Clipstone. So this time we thought we would make it right by going to Clipstone for lunch.

Needn’t have bothered. I really have no complaint about the food or service per se, other than it was way overpriced for what was an uninspired and totally forgettable meal. I mean, just look at it… 40€ each for that (mostly vegetables other than the 2 scallops)? With some wine, of course.

After lunch I met Peter to do some SHOPPING. I was hoping to find some cute sandals at the official Mephistos shop (nope) so we just ended up wandering around Soho until it was time to meet Sara & Steve for dinner at Kiln, the new sister restaurant of Smoking Goat. Thai fusiony fabulousness was promised. Sad to say, Kiln failed to deliver.

Peter and I got to Kiln a few minutes early, so we were ushered to an area next to the bar and drink orders were taken. When Sara & Steve arrived (who were also given drinks) we were then ushered to a small room downstairs and were shown to our table. When I booked I was told that we would only have the table for two hours. And well, okey-dokey, but it was a full half-hour before our food order was taken – wtf is that about? In fact, the service was lacking throughout the entire, uh, two hours. We ordered a bottle of white wine for the ladies (guys were on beer and soft drinks) and after serving two glasses the bottle was plunked down on the table with no option for keeping it chilled. When we asked the waitress she said she could stick in back in the fridge for us and bring it out again later. WHAT? Given that an easy 20 minutes would pass without seeing our server again this was not an option (nor would it be anywhere).

Then out came the food, which was fine. I mean, it wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t really good. In the end it was the poor service that stood out. Staff were not well-trained, and exuded the sort of OTT “fake friendliness” that I assume they think will cover for their ineptness. Well… nope. It didn’t.

But in spite of two seriously mediocre meals, the company couldn’t have been better, and I had a great time with my friends anyhow. But I am NEVER going back to either of these restaurants. xx

What an amazing day! It started off very promising with partly blue skies and billowy white clouds (instead of the forecasted thunderstorms) so we were cautiously optimistic as we headed over to London Fields station to meet up with Nicola @shedlikesfood and Mark @marcooth. Nicola had offered to take us on a tour of the markets in her ‘hood: Netil, Schoolyard and Broadway. Hell yeah!

We started off at Netil market for a light breakfast snack at the wonderful Yeast bakery, but before long it was Beer & O’clock and, after a stroll through busy Broadway Mkt we made our way over to Schoolyard and then back to Netil. Honestly, it was like being out with me, but in Hackney. Nicola knew all the best places to stop at each market, and exactly what to order. It was a delightful selection of delicious tastes: pillowy pork baos, crunchy fried chicken, spicy beef rendang and perfect pork dumplings.

Finally we could eat no more, though strangely we were still “thirsty” 😉 so our next stop stop was at Lardo, where we sat up on the highest bar stools I’d ever encountered and had a glass of wine, while chatting with the chef in their open kitchen. From there we went off in search of a pub and ended up at Spurstowe Arms (where by chance we had also finished up after our night out at Pidgin last summer). From there things got a bit silly, with Nicola, Peter and I getting through two bottles of wine (Mark was sticking with pints). Then Mark had to leave us, but Nicola wasn’t through with our tour of Hackney, and we – not very sensibly – went for even more drinks at her favourite neighbourhood cocktail bar Every Cloud.

After this Nicola left us and just as we were wondering what to do next (other than knowing that “whatever next” needed to include some food) I saw that the folks from Lahpet had left a comment on my Instagram, reminding me that they had moved from their food stall Maltby Street Mkt and now had a restaurant in Hackney. Perfect! We made our over and had a wonderful dinner. I was so pleased to see that brothers Dan Anton & Jono were doing so well. And the food was delicious.

So that was our first full day in London and, thanks to Nicola, it was spectacular. Also – it didn’t rain! It also kind of set the pace for the following days, of heading out mid-mornings and not returning to the apartment until bedtime. Exhausting, but fun.

So remember last year when I won the Premio Fogones for Difusión Gastronómica? Well, this year I was invited to attend the ceremony and the swish reception afterwards but… had to work! I had a tapas tour booked before I knew about the awards and, well, this is what I do. And it somehow seemed fitting that the reason I couldn’t attend was because I was out doing what got me the award last year in the first place. Anyhoo… I decided to stop by after saying goodnight to my guests to see if the party was still going. And it was!

Well, as soon as I walked in the door I was bear-hugged by Antonio Cruz (left) who was clearly still on cloud 9 after having won the Best Front of House award for Becerrita Restaurant (that’s Jesús Becerra beside him). I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving, as Antonio has devoted his life to this often difficult work, and I have never seen him be anything but super professional as well as naturally friendly and helpful.

My “heir” Javier Compás proudly shows off his award, as I (also proudly) retire to the position of Premios Fogones emeriti. Although I was sorry to miss the event, I really did have a great tapas tour, leaving four lovely people totally in love with Sevilla’s food and wine. But I was glad that I was able to pop in briefly on my way home (albiet underdressed for the occasion) to say hi and congratulate the friends that were still there. Nice night.